Illusive
by CraftAndBurn
Summary: DISCONTINUED Stranded on opposite ends of existance are three friends, tied by Fate. It seems that memories are all they have, but perhaps Destiny is not finished with them yet... Rating May Go Up
1. Chapter One: Three Left Wondering

**Chapter One**

**Author's Note:** _Before I begin, I'd like to talk you through a few things. First, you'll find that many featured characters take a larger role in this fic than they normally do in others! Hopefully, I can keep it from going too out-of-character, and hopefully I won't write painfully short chapters! Oh, and on account of my huge workload, my updates won't be regular. If you like the story enough to want to read the rest, it might be worth setting it to author alerts or favourites or else you'll like, never find it! Hopefully you'll do that anyway though. ;) _

_This first chapter is kind of a lot of expository info, but please try and stay with me. I'm going to try and please everyone by putting as many characters into the spotlight as I can. It's also worth noting that at this stage in the writing of this fanfic I have not played Chain of Memories or Kingdom Hearts 2, so this fic has no relevance to either… it's just my own version of what happened next. However, I have no intention of removing this story once Chain of Memories is released in the UK._

_Now without any further ado, I present to you my first KH fanfic!! crowd of approximately1 cheers_

How long she'd been sitting in the dark, Kairi had no idea. It was hard to keep track of time in the secret place. Sunlight couldn't come in through the thick veils of plant life of one variety or other, and down the winding tunnel to this tiny little cave… Sunlight gave up too easily.

She still couldn't really take it in. Just yesterday, her journey across the worlds had come to an end, and after all that she'd talked about what it would like be as she helped build the raft, she hadn't really seen that much on her travels at all… Not until she found herself in Hollow Bastion anyway.

The raft… it seemed like so long ago now. Looking back, it was such a stupid idea, building a raft to find other worlds. Kairi knew now just how difficult it was to reach all those plains… a wooden raft would have sent them nowhere.

Her foster parents had been reluctant to let her out of their sight since she went back to them last night, but they had eventually let her go and get her boat to sail to the island… She regretted it as soon as she reached the shores… It hurt to see Sora and Riku's boats tied up, but know that they would not be there. It hurt to see Wakka haring towards her, and as he danced her round in circles calling for the others, to tell him that she had returned alone.

"I'm sorry…" she said, as he dropped her hands and watched her pass him with tears in her eyes. "I need to be by myself for a while."

And so her wanderings had led her to the Secret Place. That's where she'd found the drawings on the walls that they'd made so many years ago- Sora must have added to one of them some time before. A paopu fruit… She cried all over again when she saw it there, so hopeful and childish. Something compelled her to finish the drawing, as if that would somehow make certain that she'd be bound to Sora forever, wherever he was right now. That picture comforted her; almost making her feel like he was there and she could sense his touch on the cold cave wall.

She felt so alone without them… Selphie and the boys could make an awful lot of noise when they felt like it, but to her the island had suddenly become cold and silent. There was just… no reason to be there anymore.

Eyes still on the little engraved picture, she moved the stone in her hand to carve on the wall once more. It seemed to be the only way she could ever speak to him again. So immature, but she needed all the comfort she could find.

_Thinking of you_

_Wherever you are…_

"Hey, girl!"

Kairi jumped and looked round to see Selphie striding cheerily into the cave. She hadn't even heard her come through the tunnel. She looked guiltily at the words she'd scratched out, and moved to the left to divert Selphie's attention from that part of the wall.

"Wakka said you wanted to be alone, so I came to find you!" Selphie continued, as though Kairi was supposed to be happy about this. She went over and sat down next to the other girl, and for a while she just looked around the cave walls as if she hadn't a care in the world, her feet tapping the dusty ground in their little yellow shoes. It was funny how she wasn't saying anything, yet her very presence made the cave seem louder. Finally, she looked back at Kairi.

"You know, Tidus and Wakka want to start a game of two-a-side volleyball. I bet we can totally beat the boys! Ya wanna play?" she asked with her head on one side.

Kairi knew what Selphie was doing. But it was so hard to gather any sort of desire for anything other than to have things back to the way they were, before they were taken away from Destiny Islands. No amount of games and bonding with the others would make things go back to how they used to be.

Selphie seemed to read her mind. She leaned forward and started to draw little pictures in the dust. "I know. I miss them too; it was funny to watch them try to get one over on each other all the time… But hey, moping around in here won't bring them back any more than a good game of volleyball will. You might as well have a bit of fun, right?" She finished the little drawing of a palm tree, before moving to the right and starting a new picture.

It was a fair point... but right now, all Kairi wanted was to be left alone with her memories. "You're right…" she said quietly, "But- I mean, I just… Sora…" Tears finally escaped her, falling into the dust next to Selphie's new picture of a little stickman-style house. "I miss him so much…" Selphie looked up at Kairi as understanding dawned.

"Oooh! You liiiiike him?" she squeed, getting up and jumping up and down thus destroying her second picture, though this action went unnoticed.

"I think we both know it's more than that…" Kairi pointed out.

Selphie waved her friend's correction aside with an impatient sigh. "That's not the point. But like, wow! I always thought it'd be you and Riku, but Sora seemed… I dunno… It seemed more like…"

_Oh, yes…_ Kairi thought as she stopped listening to the girl in the yellow dress. _ Riku._ She wondered why she didn't feel worse about him being gone as well. She felt terrible for thinking it, but she knew that if she could choose to bring just one of the boys back to Destiny Islands, Riku wouldn't stand a chance. That's just the way it was. She couldn't help liking Sora more, no matter how awful that made her feel.

"…Like, I dunno, you were just always going to be friends," Selphie finished, satisfied that she had found the right words even though they were far from profound. "He's _way_ too immature for my liking." By this stage, she had traced out a whole ring of little pictures, showing a whole range of completely random things including flowers and a horse. Kairi smiled- It looked kind of like some sort of zodiac picture. Selphie liked to try and read the stars- or, as Kairi now knew, worlds.

Selphie frowned. "I didn't say anything funny."

"No, it's not that," Kairi replied hastily, pointing to the ground. "The pictures. They're cute."

"You like them? I'm trying to make my own method of fortune telling! It'll be so cool! They'll call me… Sagacious Selphie… Maybe."

Kairi knew it'd never work, but decided not to correct her. "I know he acts kind of like a kid sometimes… He doesn't scare me, like Riku did sometimes. He grew up so quickly, it was like… I dunno- suddenly, he was out of reach from all of us- you know what I'm trying to say right?"

Her friend nodded. She had never really been scared of Riku, but she did remember how he had always seemed very mature to her… and at the same time, that childish, competitive streak was still there, especially towards Sora- who pretty much encouraged him… _They're both as bad as each other, really_, she thought with a smile.

She watched Kairi in silence for a second or two, before drawing her into a hug. "Hey, don't worry, Kairi. We'll see them again. There's no proof that they're gone forever, ya know?"

"I guess…" Kairi hesitated before continuing. "Sora… before we got separated, I mean… he promised he'd come back to me. D'you think he will?"

Selphie snorted. "Yeah, right! Like you're going to hang around like some princess in a tower waiting for a cheesy prince charming on a fat white pony! _You're_ going to go to _him_, right?"

…

"Right?!"

"Selphie-" She paused. "Selphie… think about it. When we used to hang out here at night, and we talked about how far away the stars looked? Well, every one of those stars is another world. And Sora could be on any of those worlds or none at all. How can I possibly get to him, especially when all the worlds are separate again? There's just no way…"

There was a long silence. Finally Selphie sighed. "I can't believe how romantic this is!" she mused, her eyes shining. "Sora braves the dangers of Kingdom Hearts to rescue you, and now you're worlds apart, and you'll _totally_ never ever forget one another, and every night you'll see the stars and wonder where he is, and every night he'll be doing the same-"

"Stop that."

"Okay, girl, I get it. You wanna be alone? Well, if you change your mind, we'll be out at the cove!" With that, Selphie skipped out of the cave, leaving Kairi alone in the dark cavern of her memories.

To one who is unaccustomed to darkness, Kingdom Hearts would appear to stretch both far and wide for eons. But as long as one cannot see, one can still hope for the end at each and every step. To he who has spent eternity suffering at the hands of its unmarking punishments, it appeared the world had beginning, for he was unfortunate enough to enter, but would be never-ending. There is no end in his sight, nor hope in his next steps, for he can see through the darkness to the endless path ahead.

So now, what was left? Utter Silence. That was not how it had begun. The doors slowly edged to a close, and he had spoken a lot more, escaped the heartless with more urgency. There had been company in the King he'd found there. It was this King who had conversed with him, and they had shared their stories and ideas for getting back home, but now… Well, Kingdom Hearts went on forever, it seemed. It was so easy to get lost. So far had they gone into this abyss, that the door had left their sight. Who knew which direction would lead them back?

Mistakenly, the two split up to look for any sign of something which might show them a way out, and that was the last they saw of one another. That seemed like such a long time ago now…

Now all that was left was a broken spirit. A light-haired boy sat curled with his head rested on his arms, his arms on his knees. He remained alone amid thousands, his power over those thousands slowly ebbing away as they approached him with primitive curiosity. He showed little care for their presence, and no response to their inquisitive interest in him. For all the signs of life he gave, he may as well have been dead.

The boy was absorbed in his own thoughts, the horrors of his own actions and the things he'd done… and the worse things that he had tried to do. He no longer needed a voice; his eyes told the tale as they fixed on the ground, unmoving yet full of animation, intense yet distant.

His thoughts, primarily, were with Kairi. After all that had happened, it seemed like such a long time ago since he'd last seen her.

_Is she alright? Did she get home okay? Oh, God, I've been such an idiot… All those things I did… I could've…_

…_I could've killed Sora…_

…_I could've killed my best friend… and for what?_

Riku looked up suddenly as he heard a different noise to the shrill cries of the shadow heartless closing in on him.

At first he thought it was the King. Perhaps he had found something after all… But how would he have managed to find him in this wall-to -wall darkness?

The little spiritual scavengers parted ways as a figure dressed in black approached the boy, converging on him again almost immediately after adjusting to the new presence. The figure ignored them, and they did not touch him.

"So it is you… The one who was to wield the Keyblade…"

The voice belonged to a man… a more gentle voice than Ansem's, but still it held some strange authority. He knelt down and tilted Riku's head up, to look the boy in the eyes.

"Such a waste…"

He let go, and Riku looked away. The man wore a black hood, and Riku hated not being able to see a face- all there was to see was a short, dark tunnel, ending with strangers' eyes and a face he did not yearn for.

"…Such power, destined for nothing. You ignorant child. Quick judgment has been the downfall of so many before you, and you have followed suit."

In one swift and sudden sweep, the man grabbed Riku's wrists roughly and pulled him closer, holding both together tight. "And you will not learn… You must realise, child, that I can help you. I can release you from Kingdom Hearts and its bonds. I…" The man slowly drew his capture's hands apart, but still kept a hold of him. "…can set you free."

Riku's gaze followed his hands lower, till they hovered above the ground, still held by this other person's harsh constraint.

"I know what you're thinking…" he continued imperiously, with an air of someone with great knowledge and who was prepared to use it to his devastating advantage over this boy. "You're thinking about your mistakes. You are thinking that by accepting my assistance, you will cause history to repeat itself. Perhaps you are right." He gave a short laugh. "But take time to think, my boy. Are you going to risk refusing such a perfect opportunity? Maybe I am lying. But isn't it just as likely that I'm telling the truth? Will you risk a lifetime in Kingdom Hearts just because your past mistakes have made you afraid? We know you better than you know yourself. You will choose our path… You have not yet found what you gave everything for and this the only way out for you. So why are you fighting us…?"

By this stage, his voice had dropped to a whisper, taking on a strange hypnotic tone as he gently coaxed the enthralled boy to his feet, still keeping hold of both his hands. He nodded behind his hood as though he knew exactly what this child was thinking, though he had given the stranger no indication.

"Good boy. I knew you would come to your senses… But nothing comes for free… Before you leave, there are some things you must do…"

A pearly mist surrounded their hands, and the smaller of the two figures gave a cry and fell to his knees, supported only by the other.

"…But of course, you already knew that… Didn't you?"

"That dumb dog!!" Donald squawked irritably, as he and his two friends got too tired to chase the excitable canine any further through the apparently rural walk-route. He sat down and sighed. "You'd think he didn't want us to catch him!!!"

"Well, maybe he doesn't," Sora suggested, joining his hot-headed friend in a sitting position on the grass and Goofy stopped next to them. "Maybe he doesn't even have a letter!"

Goofy shook his head. "Why'd he make us follow him if he don't have a letter from the king?" he asked in confusion as he saw Pluto, just in front of the glowing sunset, stop and wait for them just far enough away so that he could start running again should they get up and chase him again.

Donald also noticed this, and had he not been a Disney character (and a duck), he probably would have sent a very rude hand signal Pluto's way. "Because he likes watching us look like idiots chasing him around in circles? That dog's got it comin'!"

He continued grumbling incoherently as Sora continued. "I mean, what if he doesn't have a letter, and he just wants us to follow?"

"Then he'd let us ketch 'im," Goofy replied simply, also over the top of the ducky monologue.

"Unless he thought that if we caught him, and the letter was a fake, we'd stop following. There's always a chance he just knows something, I guess."

Goofy nodded good-naturedly. "Okay, Sora. Maybe yore right…"

"We may as well follow him and find out. We've got no other clues to help us find the King and Riku. It's not like we really have a choice."

This caused Donald to cease his mutterings and look up. "So what're we waiting for? Stop that dog!!!"

He and Sora got to their feet and started to give chase again, Goofy in happy tow. Pluto blinked and took off at a great speed, not really making all that much effort to stay well ahead of them. This kind of made Sora get why Donald was so annoyed, but he sure as heck wasn't going to end his search for his friends just because he couldn't catch a big orange dog.

He wondered what it'd be like to return home. He had no idea how much time had elapsed since he'd left, though it can't have been _that _long. He was pretty sure, in his childish mind, that nothing would change after he got home and he, Kairi and Riku could be back on the island together. But really, at the same time, he _wanted_ things to change. He wanted Kairi to be his. He wanted Riku to realise that that was how it was supposed to be. But he wanted to stay with the new friends he'd made as well. He wanted, to be short, an ideal world. He should have learnt a long time ago that there wasn't one.

He stopped running again whenever Donald did so. "This is getting impossible," the annoyed duck said. "Can't we just persuade him to lead us there at a _normal_ pace?"

Pluto had stopped again, his innocent, blank stare unnerving Sora slightly as he nodded. "Okay," he said. We're done trying to catch him; we've tried just following; now we should try your idea…"

Sora crept a little closer. Pluto's ears pricked up. Sora stood still. Pluto lay flat in the grass, peering over the spiky tips. Sora crouched down likewise. Both stared each other out for at least a minute in silence. Donald and Goofy looked at one another and shrugged.

"You can understand me, right?" Sora finally said in his normal voice, still not moving and looking slightly strange in his odd crouching position in the dewy grass. "Will you give us the letter?"

Pluto continued to stare directly at him in silence. _Okay…_ Sora thought nervously. _This is getting kind of weird._

"Then, uh, will you stop running so we can keep up with ya?"

Still the dog did not move. Finally, Sora sighed and Pluto's ears flopped as though Sora had disturbed the air enough to cause a small breeze.

"So will you just lead us to wherever it is you're trying to take us without breaking the sound barrier?"

Still no change. Tentatively, Sora stood up. Pluto's gaze shifted to follow him. Sora stepped forward. Pluto did not move. Sora edged further forward. Pluto did not move. Donald and Goofy held their breath. Sora got right next to Pluto. Pluto did not move. Sora reached slowly out to pat Pluto on the nose. Pluto did not move. Sora was just millimetres away-

Pluto took off like a shot over the hill.

"THAT DUMB DOG!!!!!" Donald yelled in frustration, as the three hared off after him, the sun vanishing behind the horizon for another evening as they ran.

"Hey-hey, Kairi! So you're joining us?"

Kairi nodded at Selphie as she left the secret place and approached the beach with a slight smile. "I was just thinking," she said pensively. "Sora would hate it if he came back home and saw me moping around and crying… Right?"

"Right, girl! Sora hates killjoys, and killjoy you are not! Have some fun, and know he's not going to eat your face for crying over him when he gets back! But for now… We still have two boys on this island…" she gestured to where Wakka and Tidus were standing with Wakka's blitzball a little behind them, protesting that they were men, not boys. "And they're seriously asking for a little butt-kicking from the superior gender! Waddaya say?"

Kairi nodded with a small but sincere laugh. "'Kay. Let's show them who's in charge on this island!"

"Oh yeah!!!" Selphie jumped up and down excitedly and ran down to the beach, the others in pursuit. The walking sugar-rush (who had somehow during the proceedings managed to wrestle the ball from Wakka) began to announce the game and how it would be played today (the rules changed frequently).

"Okay guys, the game is volleyball, girls on boys! You know the rules: No time-out unless the ball is in your end; no yo mamma jokes; no threats, and no dirt-clod throwing, TIDUS!!!!"

"It was only the once…" Tidus grumbled, kicking the sand up under his shoe.

"Aw, you know I love you Tidus," Selphie replied with a grin. "Now, let the best man – or should I say girls – WIN!"

She gave the boys first serve, and the game began.

The game was one Kairi knew well, even if it only was two-on-one. It was incredible how one could play a game which required six team members with just two. They were a resourceful bunch on the island. If their school-teachers could see the stories they'd created, the thoughts on life they had produced, the fire their hearts and passions brought to this island each and every day, they would be more baffled there and then than at anything they could ever find on a lined page covered in childish scrawl, at any age in life.

Kairi couldn't help thinking as she played how these three had grown up these past few years, and she'd spent so much time with Sora and Riku that she hardly noticed. Wakka had always assumed the "Big Brother" role among them, with Tidus as the Clown and Selphie being the Baby Sister that everyone took care of.

But although nothing had changed, at the same time, she had missed watching these three personalities develop in her absence.

Wakka had hardly changed at all. He was still the laid-back yet protective senior of the three. But he had no competition in Riku any longer, and seemed more secure in himself, as the oldest person on the island, to look after the others as a mentor and protector.

Tidus did things a different way. He cheerily got on with things, but made sure that everyone knew just what he thought before doing so. Far from being unaffected by the disappearance of his friends, he just pinned his hopes on the fact that there was always the possibility they'd come back one day.

Selphie as well had changed. As the only girl left hanging out with Tidus and Wakka most of the time - just two boys to keep her company - she had definitely started to stick up for herself a lot more. She seemed to give Wakka a bit of grief now, gently poking fun at him and flattening his hair with water, since he was definitely the one in charge and therefore the one she should be challenging. She'd taken her place among the boys as something other than "Eww, GIRL DISEASE!!!"

"Hey, Kairi??"

Kairi glanced up at Selphie, who was looking at her indignantly.

"It's your serve!" She tossed her the ball. "Show 'em who's boss, Kairi! WOO! Girls Rule!!!"

Kairi shook herself out of her dream world. She'd been living in there far too much lately. There was a chance Sora and Riku would never come back, when she thought about things sensibly. She could not hang on to their return as her only source of life… Could she? Maybe it was far too early to be thinking about moving on, but at the same time, she felt like she wanted to protect herself from disappointment.

She sighed and stood back slightly from the centre of the court that had been earlier marked out with shells. She knew her serve was a little on the long side, so she aimed higher instead. She took the serve and play began once more. Wakka and Selphie were both pretty good at this game, but Tidus was by far the master of two-a-side volleyball. He jumped around the court like a weird little monkey, always somehow getting to the ball in perfect time. Really, his speed was formidable. And pretty funny to watch-

"Oof!"

"Hey, y'okay?" Selphie asked as Kairi tripped and landed face-first in the sand.

She sat up; her face covered in annoying little grains, and dusted it off, even spitting some out of her mouth in disgust. "I broke my shoelace," she said finally, standing up and dusting sand out of her hair. She didn't really feel like going all the way back to the main island to get different shoes. "I'll be back in a sec; I'll just go get some weed or something to tie it till we're done."

She went off to look for some sort of plant strong enough to hold her shoelace in place, and eventually saw the strange creepers that hung outside the secret place. They'd be strong enough, definitely. She went over and pulled a bit off, and also took a little pink flower from another nearby plant, just because it would look cute if she tied it in her hair…

But something, somewhere in the back of her mind, was telling her to go into the Secret Place. At first she thought it was just because she was still upset about the boys, but this was more than just sadness, or a desire to go through her memories. This was some urgent _need_ to go into that cave, without any further delay.

Curious of her own mentality, she pulled aside the creepers and ducked under the hanging plants to the long tunnel. Hundreds of strange things flickered through her head as she cautiously made her way through the dark, many of them things she had never heard before…

_I'll come back to you!_

_Come on, Sora! Together, we can do it!_

_Giving up already?_

_There's a light that never goes out!_

_I'll return this. I promise._

_You won't use me for this…_

_What's happening to me…?_

_It all ends here._

Kairi froze. A jumble of voices shot through her head, the tunnel seemed to be getting blacker and blacker the further she went… Not just to the dim cave vision, but real, pressing blackness. Was this tunnel going on forever? She looked back, but could not see the cave's entrance. She hated to think about going backwards through this path of memories. She continued forwards… or was it now backwards after all? She wasn't sure anymore.

_Who is she?_

_We'll be together again soon._

_This place… It just looks so familiar._

_I'm not afraid…!_

_What're you talking about?_

_Kairi's coming with us!_

She knew their voices better than her own. They were voices she longed to hear, voices she'd dreamt about last night, that she would dream of for a long time to come. She was so glad to hear them, but at the same time, scared… and sad.

Suddenly, she reached the end of the tunnel, and the blackness lifted startlingly. Even the dim cave took a while for her eyes to adjust to. The cave was different, although nothing had been moved since her last visit. The childhood illustrations on the walls seemed to be emitting their own source of soft light, as were the ones that Selphie had made earlier. There were no footprints, no sign that anyone else had come in here today, other than herself and Selphie… But what she saw there shocked her beyond anything she could have expected. The flower fell to the dusty floor, landing forgotten on top of one of Selphie's illustrations and disturbing the peaceful dust that had settled there.

"…Riku?"

**AN (Again): **_Well, hopefully that was painless enough! It turned out much longer than I'd anticipated, but hey, all the more to read. My biggest concern here was the constantly changing style I had to use in order to accommodate three completely different situations… To help me I listened to suitable music._

_Once again, I'd like to express my appreciation for any feedback you'd like to give me, and also that you bookmark or favourite or whatever if you like this that much, because my updates are not incredibly regular (I'm doing AS and I chose English AND Spanish Groan)_

_Many thanks to my older sister and beta-reader, Krissy, and also a request that she highlight her corrections in red so I don't have to dredge up all the correction and check them over myself! ;)_

_Love yas!_


	2. Chapter Two: A Messenger

**Chapter Two**

**AN**_Well, here we are again. If you survived the first chapter, I admire your mental strength. So far to my knowledge, only two brave souls have managed it. I salute you, Risako and XxSwEeTnEsSxX93! And thank you for your lovely reviews. I've also completed Chain of Memories! Unfortunately, I was unable to manipulate this story so that it took place after CoM, so this fic would probably be happening INSTEAD of CoM. You might find several echoes of the game in this story though. Can you spot them?_

_I was going to take down Chapter one and make a couple of changes before I put it back up again, but I think I'd just confuse the people who've already read it so I'll try to work round my plot errors… /cough/… ONWARD! points to some random thing in the distance_

**Disclaimer- **Heh, I forgot this in chapter one, but I own nothing… No, not even Donald Duck! Here we go now, it's Chapter Two!

Chapter Two

Salty water crashed around his ears as he broke the sea's surface, and he felt the freedom of open air like he'd never felt it before. It took him a second to adjust and realise where he was, and realisation dawned as he watched the mid-afternoon sun sparkle on the tiny, rippling waves of the ocean. He looked up and found himself face-to face with a makeshift wooden ladder attached to a rock ledge. He remembered helping to build it. He remembered everything about this place so well, and yet it seemed impossible that he was here.

"I'm… home?"

He could hardly believe it, didn't dare to believe it… but the ladder was real to the touch… The salt air was the same as ever. It had to be one and the same – it couldn't be any other! This was Destiny Islands… The Special Island, to be exact. He scrambled to the top of the ladder, to the cove at the paopu tree and pushed wet brown hair out of his eyes.

He could hardly take it in. It was like he had a sudden brain freeze. He just stared around in silence, at the gently swaying palm trees, the crude wooden framework built by childish, willing hands, and the seagulls chasing each other in sweeping circles up above him. Still, something wasn't right. It didn't quite seem real to him. How had he done it? How had he gotten home? And where were Donald and Goofy now?

Suddenly a much more important thought pushed its way to the front of his mind. If he was at Destiny Islands, then wouldn't Kairi be here too?

With an unexpected burst of energy, Sora ran into the shack and down the wobbly steps, his first port of call being, of course, the secret place behind the plants. He burst out the lower door, practically knocking it down, and ran to the Cave's entrance. He spotted a something he didn't recognise out at the beach, but he ignored it. This was more important.

"Kairi! Kairi!" he yelled as he reached the single little space that had become a haunt for children who just wanted to be alone for a while… or to scribble on the walls, of course.

But it seemed that today nobody wanted to be alone. The cave was completely empty. There he could see the old drawings on the rock, but he _did_ see a few things that were different. There was a few things written on the far wall that he had never seen before, but it had been scratched away, as though the person who'd written it had though better of it and scored it off. Some things had been disturbed, but all in all, nothing had really changed.

And above all, there was no Kairi.

_Well, she must be somewhere…_ he thought determinedly. _When she left, I'm sure it was a part of the islands shore she was standing on when… Wait…_

_The shore?_

He left the secret place as quickly as he had come in and hurried back to daylight. There it was, a figure standing at the shore. But he knew right away, with a guilty disappointment, that it was not Kairi.

It was Riku.

Still, this was some familiarity. Someone he'd truly cared about was home where he should be.

He rushed over to the shore, but Riku didn't seem to notice he was there. Eerily, he stood with his back to Sora, staring at the water that just touched the soles of his shoes - just like he had done twice before; once in a dream, once posessed by Ansem.

He was dressed differently to the way he usually was. Instead of the bright, casual clothes he had worn on the islands, or that weird get-up he'd donned by Ansem's preference, he wore a long black coat, and perfectly plain black combat boots. There was a hood, but it hung neglected around the back of his shoulders. Still, it was far too hot to wear that sort of thing on Destiny Islands.

Sora was a bit scared of calling him. Twice before he had been faced with this very scenario… Thrice when he thought about that night on the cove… Each time, nothing good had come of it.

Still his curiosity, and care for an old friend took over. "Riku!" he called, stepping forward so he was standing a few metres from him.

The pale-haired boy looked up, straight in front of him for a second, before turning round and looking at Sora with a strange look his eyes, somewhere between guilt and sadness.

His confused friend stared at him. "Riku? What's going on? Why're you looking at me like that – Where's Kairi?"

At the mention of Kairi, Riku looked back at the sand in silence for a second, before turning back to the water, his hands behind his back as he stared remotely out to sea once more. Sora could see that he wore black gloves as well. And so the question remained unanswered… Why wasn't Kairi here? If Riku was here, surely Kairi would be too…?

"Riku, talk to me! Tell me where she is… I'm not angry with you. Neither is Kairi. I think."

This was one of those blood-and-stone scenarios. Riku looked round at him, but did not turn the whole way round, and his eyes seemed overly bright in the blinding sun. He shook his head, and held out his right hand.

"Oh, no! Not this time! You think I'm going to-?" Sora started indignantly, standing back a little. "Riku, just… stop being an idiot and tell me what's going on!"

…

"Will you just say something already? Look, this is getting weird… What the heck happened while I was gone – Woa! What-?"

As suddenly as anything else had happened since he arrived home, a shadow descended upon the whole island. Riku looked at the sky and stepped back from Sora, the sea water at knee-height to him now but he didn't appear to notice. Sora followed his gaze, but did not see anything. "What is it…?"

For a second he thought he saw a slight disturbance in the air above them, almost like when one sees something out of the corner of one's eye, only to look again and see nothing. But it was gone as quickly as he'd seen it appear.

_Did I just see what he's seeing now…? Or was it just a trick of the light? I'm not used to the water reflecting the light… maybe that was all…_

Riku stared at the nothing in the sky for a few sconds more, backing away ever so slightly before his hand fell loosely to his side.

Sora was starting to get scared now. In his heart something told him to do what Riku wanted this time, but he had learned that he wasn't always to be trusted. Riku raised both hands to whatever it was above them, not exactly in a hailing manner… More like he was trying to reach it. He'd given up on Sora's help; he knew he wouldn't get it. He stared desperately into the sky, until a blinding white light flashed around his hands. Sora watched in silence. This just got weirder and weirder.

The light faded, and in its place was a pair of ornate handcuffs. They looked like they maybe have been made of marble or something, but marble would be easy to break in such small chains…

Sora was suddenly aware of an unfamiliar weight at his own wrists. He looked at his hands in alarm to find that he now donned a similar pair of handcuffs. The chains were long enough not to have pulled his hands together when they first attached themselves to him, but as he raised his hands to eye-level the chains shortened until he couldn't draw them apart again.

"Riku!" he yelled in a panic, glaring at the boy with some sense of frustration while he tugged at the seemingly unbreakable chains. "What have you done?"

His former friend didn't seem to hear him. Either that or he was just deliberately ignoring him.

"_Riku_!"

This time, he paid heed, but didn't seem too troubled by the fact that his friend was freaking out over on the shore. He just watched him and waited for whatever it was Sora wanted to say.

"Please-!" Sora paused, and tried to stop panicking for a second. "Just… Just tell me what's going on! You know, don't you? Why won't you talk to me! What's happening…?"

…

"_Tell me now_!"

Sora ran into the gentle sea, but Riku backed further away until he was waist-deep in water. Sora stopped and stared at him. "What do you think you're doing? Come back!"

He watched his friend in silence until he noticed a strange movement in the water. The waves started to rise, higher and higher by the second until Sora was soaked right up to his shoulders. He panicked and tried to get back to the island, but he looked back towards the shore to see that it had gone. There was nothing but sea now, all around them… and yet Sora could feel his feet safely on the sand of shallow water below him.

He lifted his hands and stared at his chains in despair. There were two locks, one on the left cuff and one on the right.

_What is going on…? How do I get out of these? It's something to do with these… I think if I can get out of them I'll be able to swim properly, and find the shore…_

_I need a key!_

As soon as he thought this, he saw something materialise in front of his raised right hand.

"What-?"

A key. A small, white key, beautiful and delicate – and it looked like it was made for the handcuffs he wore. After staring at it open-mouthed for a minute, he quickly took it out of the air and fitted it into the right keyhole, turning it gently in fear of snapping his way to freedom like a twig.

Nothing happened. He tried it in the left keyhole, but it didn't even fit. It was the wrong key…

"Where's the right key!" he yelled in frustration, his shoes scuffing the sand beneath them. A sandy cloud billowed around his ankles under the water. Was this a dream? Or were the worlds really falling apart once more? "Where _is_ it!"

He looked round as a thought struck him suddenly. Riku had returned his attention to the dark clouds once more, but he looked reproachful and afraid.

"Riku! Look at me, _now_!"

The other boy obliged surprisingly easily this time.

"Do you have another key there?"

Riku stared at him in confusion for a moment, before holding up another key, this one black but with the same style of craft put into its making.

"Yes! That one! Bring it here! I think we need to switch keys."

…

"I think it's the only way out! What's _wrong_ with you!"

Riku glanced back at the sky, before looking back at Sora. After some hesitation, he nodded and tried to make his way over to Sora.

"That's it!" Sora reached out his hand for his. He looked at Riku carefully, and saw that he looked kind of… translucent? "What…?"

He leaned forward to get a hold of the boy more quickly. Their hands were just inches apart when Sora looked up to see a huge wave casting its shadow over the both of them. Riku saw his friend's expression and turned to look at the giant wave looming over them.

Sora reached out again, but no sooner did he move than the wave came crashing down over the both of them.

Just like before.

Kairi stared dumbly at the wall in front of her. A new picture had appeared there. She'd noticed it immediately: after all, she knew every pattern and carving on these walls by heart… Many of them, after returning home, she realised held pictures of events she now recognised. The picture of the duck, for example. She knew who it was now. A castle that she now recognised as her old home… She hadn't thought twice about why she and the other kids had drawn these things, but now she could sit and retell all that had happened to them since the meteor showers, just using these pictures.

But this new one, she did not recognise at all… Well, that was only partly true. She recognised the person in the drawing as Riku. But nothing else about the picture made sense.

It was scratched out in what appeared to be charcoal, unlike the others, which were all carved from the white residue of crumbled rock. In the drawing, her friend was on his hands and knees, reaching out in front of him to something (or someone) portrayed as simply a black, charcoal haze.

What really made her look twice at this drawing was not the image itself, but that it was so intricate, and yet not that large. That it was outlined in black, not in white.

And that it was not created by the hands of a child.

She made her way closer to the picture to get a better look at it. _How did it get there? _She thought, shivering. It's likeness to her friend went far beyond the untamed hair that only just touched his collar, or the exact capture of his features on stark stone…

"Kairi!"

Selphie's voice startled her and she looked round quickly. Selphie watched her for a second, before making a sympathetic sound and giving her a hug. "I know it's difficult, Kairi. It's worse for you than it is for the rest of us- you were closer to them. But, you know, they _might_ come back. I mean, if you three were able to leave the islands in the first place…"

Kairi nodded, but her eyes remained fixed on the charcoal picture. Her friend followed her gaze. "But this is really _good_! Did you just do it there now? You've only been here like five minutes!"

There was a slight pause before Kairi shook her head. "I didn't draw it."

"But like…" Selphie stared at the wall in surprise. "Wakka and Tidus could never draw-"

"What the heck are you two doing in here?" Wakka's voice echoed through the rocky tunnel. He appeared a few seconds later at the cave's entrance, kicking the ball in front of him lazily. "We playin' or not?"

Selphie waved at Wakka as Tidus came skidding into the cave and bumped into him. "Hey guys, did either of you draw that?" She pointed to the new picture, and Wakka shook his head.

"Hey, don't look so freaked, maybe one of the older kids came back to the islands and left it there, ya? Although why the drawing is of Riku of all people is beyond me."

"I know! I bet this is like, a ghost picture!" Tidus suggested kind of tactlessly, oblivious to the horrified expression on the girls' faces. "We're being contacted from the other side!"

There was a brief pause in which everyone glared at the younger boy.

"Whatever," Selphie said irritably, looking to Kairi. "You know, Wakka's probably right. It was probably one of the older kids or something like that."

Kairi nodded. She didn't see how or why that would happen, but it was the only thing logical. But then… Was the story about the Keyholes logical? It was all so depressing… Everything was just going round in circles, she thought as she tried to fight back tears.

Selphie put a hand on Kairi's shoulder. "Don't give up yet, Kairi… It's only been a day or two. There's still hope."

"I know… It's just…" Kairi sighed and looked up to see tears in her friend's eyes too. She gave the younger girl a hug. "You've been so great these last few days… Thank you."

Wakka snorted and looked at his watch. "Okay, is your little moment over?" He asked brightly. "We can finish our game now, ya?"

Selphie giggled. "You idiot! What makes you think we wanna play with you anymore, huh? I bet Tidus doesn't even want-" She turned round to address Tidus, and paused.

"Hey… Where'd Tidus go?"

"Probably went out because he wants to _finish da game_!"

"Shut up, you… He can't have gone out the tunnel; Wakka was standing between Tidus and the exit… He would've seen him leave."

"She's right, and I didn't see."

Kairi shrugged. "Well Wakka, we all know you're not the most observant-"

"I think I'd wudda noticed, ya!"

"He probably got bored and went out to look for some poor fish to swim after or something. Come on. It's time we left too."

Selphie and Wakka looked at one another as Kairi left the cave in silence, before following her back out into the cheering sunlight.

"Huh?"

"Sora?"

"Goofy?"

"Did you have a bad dream or sumthin'?"

…

"Sora?"

Sora sighed and shook his head, barely visible to Goofy in the darkness. "…I guess… it _was_ a dream…" he said disappointedly. "I dreamt I was home…"

"Wah?"

"Huh?"

"Donald?"

"Is it morning?"

"No, Sora just had a dream, y'know how it is, Donald… He's thinkin' about his home a lot and he thought…"

"Well I don't care! _I _think we should all go back to sleep, and talk about it when we can actually _see_ each other!"

Goofy frowned, only now becoming vaguely visible to his friends as their eyes accustomed themselves to the night. "What was it about, Sora?" he asked, blinking down at his friend from the islands.

"It was so weird…" the boy replied hesitantly, not really sure if he wanted to talk about it. It all seemed pretty crazy now that he was awake. "I was on the islands, and Riku was there, and there were chains- Yeah… I had my hands chained up, and I needed another key, so I asked Riku and-" He paused as a memory flashed in front of his eyes. "There was a wave! It happened before in a dream I had just before I got the keyblade! It came crashing down on us and I thought I was gonna die…"

"Y'know, you're probably jus' worryin' about everything too much," Goofy told him. "We'll find him and we'll get ya home. Trust me on this one!" he said cheerfully, until he was interrupted by a disgruntled duck.

"But we'll do it _tomorrow_!" he snapped, and a small rock flew from Donald's general direction and hit Goofy on the back of the head.

"Oof! Okay. We'll talk about it in the mornin', awright Sora?" he said submissively, blinking and rubbing his head.

"I guess so. Maybe we'll _all_ be less cranky after we've slept some more," Sora said with a nod, picking up the rock and throwing it back to Donald and grinning. A loud, angry quack was heard, and there was silence until morning.

**Author's Note: **_Eeeek, that chapter was a wee bit boring (aren't all chapter twos?). And badly-written I'm afraid (my beta-reading sister is unlikely to do any more proofreading for me because her laptop is satan). I'm aware that some of my sentence structure can be confusing. That's what having to read Hard Times at A-Level Literature does to you. Also, bare in mind the title of this fanfic, and remember that a lot of it's **supposed** to be confusing! XD And I **seriously** apologise for taking so long to update. I started this chapter directly after finishing the first one believe it or not!_

_My English and Biology Coursework is done, so that's some of the burden gone, but soon I will have to start studying for exams. So I'm sorry if I'm not a regular updater._

_I don't think anyone here is reading '_Their Fathers' Sons'_, but if you are, a new chapter is on it's way soon. More will be explained in chapter two of that story._


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